Chapter 15 Tathagata is a Traitor_1

Ji Changsheng had the Crown Prince prepare a room for him, and then he found all the recorded materials of the Rotten Helve Temple.

After reading through it all, Ji Changsheng had a basic understanding of Rotten Helve Temple and this world.

As Li Changxi had said, it seemed that the timeline was indeed after the end of the God Sealing War.

The Western Religion flourished.

Under the Three Thousand Buddha Kingdoms, there were countless affiliated smaller worlds that could provide faith support and later talent for the Buddha Kingdoms in abundance.

This small world was one of them.

And the Rotten Helve Temple was the strongest power in this small world.

Even superior to the Great Li Dynasty.

The Great Li Dynasty revered the Rotten Helve Temple as the national religion, and the Heartless Monk was once the number one person in this world, a Grandmaster Perfection state master.

Ji Changsheng looked at the world's record of Grandmaster Perfection fighting power and, as expected, it seemed to resemble the late-Foundation Establishment stage.

According to his own judgment, this world indeed could not foster powerful beings at the Core Formation stage, so while the system was different and cultivation techniques leaned more towards physical refinement, martial arts, and martial path, the limit should be the late-Foundation Establishment stage.

Further advancement would mean leaving this world.

For him, the Rotten Helve Temple didn't pose much danger.

Besides, according to the Crown Prince, the strongest Heartless Monk had already died.

The Grandmasters and masters had almost all died out.

The most powerful remaining forces in this world, when converted to the cultivation system, were not even at the Foundation Establishment stage.

There might be stronger leaders on the Demonic Beast side, but mutated animals that had lost their intelligence were not so hard to deal with for Ji Changsheng.

He didn't need to worry too much about safety.

Of course, these weren't the most important aspects.

The most crucial point was:

"It's too realistic."

"No matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem like an illusion."

"Li Changxi probably really has a big problem."

Ji Changsheng was both surprised and delighted.

Only after digesting the information for five minutes did he walk out of the room.

At this time, the Crown Prince, Sha Zhengping, and others were all waiting outside the door.

Ji Changsheng said, "I am ready to leave. You just wait for the good news."

The Crown Prince eagerly said, "Your Majesty, we have prepared the dragon carriage. We beg for an opportunity to serve you and accompany you on your journey."

"There's no need, I'm in a hurry."

Ji Changsheng was eager to know the truth of this so-called illusionary world's doom. Without waiting for the Crown Prince and the others to react, he had already disappeared from the spot entirely.

...

Outside the Rotten Helve Temple.

Ji Changsheng descended from the sky, holding the Hundred Souls Banner that he had succeeded in refining on the way.

The Demonic Beasts of this world could be used to refine the Hundred Souls Banner; his judgment was correct.

But it still needed to be determined whether the illusion and reality could complement each other.

Ji Changsheng's gaze fell on the Rotten Helve Temple shrouded in dark qi in front of him. His expression became extremely solemn.

He could sense that indeed, there were no signs of life within Rotten Helve Temple.

But the Demonic Qi was rampant, and was still spreading outward constantly.

This was indeed the source of the apocalyptic event in this world.

It was the right place.

He was starting to believe that this was not an illusion, causing him to hesitate for a second.

But since he was already here, it would not do to back down now.

The next moment, Ji Changsheng appeared in the Rotten Helve Temple.

When Ji Changsheng saw the scenery inside the Rotten Helve Temple, his pupils constricted violently.

There were indeed no living people inside the Temple.

All the monks were lifeless with their faces turned dark, having died of qi deprivation.

But these were not important.

The important thing was, right in front of Ji Changsheng, two sixteen-foot golden Buddha statues were prominently showing bloody tears.

Above the statues, cracks were scattered all over, and they were still expanding.

In front of the statues, there was a black relic emitting rich black qi.

It was the source of the mutations in this world!

"Demonic Buddha Relic?"

After the great monks' paranirvana, relics would remain.

Buddhism believed that relics were cultivated from merit, mostly appearing as hard sparkling multicolored beads.

Ji Changsheng, who cultivated merit himself, saw the bead and immediately thought it was a relic.

However, he was not so sure.

Because the bead was not sparkling with multicolors but emitting a chilling black Demonic Qi.

The destructive aura it contained gave Ji Changsheng a strong impulse to turn around and leave.

However, Ji Changsheng held back his fear.

A man is dead, and if a demonized relic could scare him off, it would be too humiliating.

The Great Emperor Changsheng of the South Pole cannot afford to lose face.

So Ji Changsheng stepped forward steadily and walked towards the Rotten Helve Temple Main Hall.

All the way up to the podium.

The demonic Qi continued to spill out from the relic, but Ji Changsheng did not isolate it. In fact, for disciples of the Sky Devil Sect like him, this energy was quite nourishing.

Looking at the relic in front of him, Ji Changsheng drew a deep breath and reached out to grasp it.

The next moment, there was a sudden change. Ji Changsheng's vision blurred momentarily, and he was momentarily separated from the Rotten Helve Temple, entering another space and time.

However, Ji Changsheng quickly stabilized.

He knew he hadn't moved from his spot.

It was his consciousness that had delved into the relic.

Then, he saw a monk's entire life.

His father was the Hierarch of the Devil Sect and the most prominent devil leader in the world.

His mother was the number one beauty in the martial world.

On the day he was born, his father, due to clearing his distractions, was poisoned by his mother.

Afterward, the Devil Sect was broken into by various major martial arts factions.

His father died on the spot, and the Devil Sect crumbled.

He too would have been doomed, but given his mother's merits, he was sent to the Rotten Helve Temple to receive the teachings of Buddhist Law.

Eighteen years later, Wu Xin broke through the Eighteen Bronze Men and became the youngest successor to leave the Rotten Helve Temple.

He walked the world, helped the needy, eliminated tyrants, promoted good, and punished evil. He became a monk revered by all.

Until he learned about his birth.

He became the great devil leader that everyone shouted after.

Wu Xin felt lost, despair, and helplessness.

In the end, he achieved great enlightenment, put down his butcher's knife, and instantly became a Great Grandmaster.

At the age of twenty-five, in the eyes of the world, Wu Xin ascended to the Buddha Kingdom at the Rotten Helve Temple.

He succeeded.

Then, he arrived at the end of his life.

In the Buddha Kingdom, he saw an image that left him unable to rest in peace even in death:

All Buddhas were bleeding!

The Buddha Kingdom shattered!

Demonic Qi was rampant!

An Arhat elder sacrificed himself to interrupt Wu Xin's ascension, and before dying, he loudly said to Wu Xin:

"Tell the Hierarch Saint, Tathagata is a traitor!"

This was the last thing Wu Xin saw.

Immediately after, he was cast back to the Rotten Helve Temple.

Unfortunately, he ultimately did not have the chance to fulfil the elder's request.

His ascension failed, his spirit and soul perished. Because of the contamination of the demonic Qi, he implicated the entire world.

Only his relics, which manifested after his death, recorded everything he had experienced and also became the harbinger of doomsday for this world.

...

After witnessing Wu Xin's life and returning to reality, Ji Changsheng could not help but shudder.

Ji Changsheng looked down at the relic in his hand that was still continuously releasing demonic Qi. His mind was in turmoil.

If this wasn't an illusion, if this was the view of the world of the gods, then it was very likely that what Wu Xin saw was the internal conflict of the Western Religion.

Was Tathagata the traitor of the Western Religion?

It seemed plausible.

After all, in later generations, Tathagata would become the Buddha Ancestor of Buddhism.

The Western Religion belonged to Jie Yin and Cundi, the two saints.

Ji Changsheng then thought of Li Changxi's raving words.

"Could it be that Li Changxi is not crazy? Were her words true?"

Ji Changsheng forcefully shook his head.

Whether it's true or not, it didn't matter to him at the moment.

He was too weak right now. What he needed to do the most at this time was gather enough merit to quickly increase his cultivation base stage.

With this thought in mind, Ji Changsheng quickly put away the Demonic Buddha Relic and left the Rotten Helve Temple.

As Ji Changsheng departed, the demonic Qi in the temple rapidly decreased, visibly starting to restore its previous state as a sacred place of the Western Religion.

...

A moment later.

Ji Changsheng, who had returned to the Moon Palace, quickly checked his own condition.

Then, his feelings were extremely complicated.

The Hundred Souls Banner and the Demonic Buddha Relic... both were taken out.